Rethinking American Infrastructure

Massive hardwoods came down and snapped power poles and lines on Woodland Avenue in Brookside, NJ.
(Bob Hennelly/WNYC)

Within a week, the northeastern United States was hit by both an earthquake and hurricane. Following Hurricane Irene, four million homes and businesses lost electricity. According to experts like Dan Genest of Dominion Virginia Power, turning the lights back on will be no easy task. He told the AP that "one broken pole can take six to seven hours to repair."

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I think that we're seeing the end of the suburban narrative. It might be just too expensive to carry.

Bob Hennelly, senior reporter for WNYC, and Stucknation columnist, and David Wagman, chief editor of Power Engineering magazine, discuss why the aftermath of Hurricane Irene is an opportunity to reexamine the way the U.S. produces and distributes its energy and infrastructure resources.

Sorry about the wetlands but has not the population of the Eastern seaboard changed slightly since the 1770's?Didn't we commit nearly a trillion dollars in stimulus to "shovel ready" projects in the last year? What happened to all that funding exactly?